Monday, April 15, 2013

I decided to try something new. I have had my eye on some of the cool Heidi Swapp products for quite some time. They have been available in Micheal's now for some time and each time I went in to the store, I would stand there and stare at all the wonderful crafty goodness. I never made a purchase, up until recently. I follow Heidi on facebook, twitter and instagram and noticed that there was going to be a "Memory File Adventure". I decided this would be the perfect opportunity for me to use her products and learn a few things along the way. Micheal's didn't carry the Memory File Album, but I was lucky enough to find it at my favorite scrapbook store - "Papertales". I am glad I grabbed it when I did, because I went back a few days later they were all gone!

Here begins my adventure using these cool products. I am loving it so far! I am having so much fun with this project. I haven't done this kind of memory keeping in quite some time and this is just what I needed to jump back in and have fun doing it.

It was simple and fun to get started. I just followed the prompts given and went from there. I used a combination of traditional and digital supplies.

This is my cover, and I love it! The title is available on the blog as a download. I printed mine out on to a piece of Serendipity Happiness paper. I used a portion of the Photo Clusters across the top and used two pieces of the scalloped edge trimmings. I spritzed the bottom layer with Teal color shine, and the top layer of trimming with a mixture of Teal color shine and Mint Green color shine. I added a Color Magic Note and sprayed it with Chartreuse and Mint Green Color Shine. (I wanted to use Mint Green and Teal, but grabbed the wrong bottle, but it "pops", so I went with it). I added Fun from the Chipboard Stickers.

Here is what my first page looks like:

I didn't have any clear tags on hand, so I created my own digitally. I took a class that Heidi taught with Jessica Sprague called {Mo}tography . I am so glad I took that class because I have an awesome font that was designed by Heidi and Jessica, in addition to some pretty cool downloads that were used to make projects for the class.

I created my tag using the hello that was provided for one of the projects in the class. The label on the tag is from "Label Stickers", which is a digital download. I added the part that says "my name is" (hard to see in this photo) using the Traveling Typewriter font and printed it out on a piece of inkjet transparency paper and cut to size.

The labels in front are also from the Label Stickers digital download. I didn't have any traditional banners to use, so I used another download available on her site, Sugar Chic Banner Delights.

This is my second page, and I love how interactive it is!

I had fun making these cute little accordion style journal cards and filling in the "Last List". This was available as a download on the blog. I cut the decorative end of a color magic note and spritzed it with some Primrose color shine and added it as a tab.

This next page reflects "The Last Time I.....". The Last Time I.....went Awwww, the kids were having a snack and I found them all cozied up next to each other. I took another color magic note and did the same thing to cover up the back of the one from the previous page.

I love how this turned out and it probably my favorite part of the adventure so far. When I first started putting this together, I didn't have any coordinating paper. I took some "First Edition" Designer Paper from Stampin' UP! and I spritzed it with some Primrose color shine in a few places. A few days later, after I had picked up some coordinating paper at my LSS, I finished adding the "pages" to my photo stack.

The photo on the front of the stack is my favorite photo of the four of us. I used "Photo Captions", another digital download. They are also available as traditional elements, but I couldn't find them anywhere. It worked out anyway, because I was able to size it down to fit the page. I then used my silhouette to cut it out.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

It's been a while and I really want to get this blog back up and running. To kick it off, I recently cleaned up and re-organized my crafting zone. We are a military family and live in base housing, so our options are limited when it comes to space. Prior to child #2, aka Joshua, I had my own little room to do with as I pleased. Of course after Joshua came along, I had to move all of my crafty items somewhere else. I decided that since my husband has a garage for his hobby, I was going to take over the empty wall in the master bedroom. I am one of those crafters that needs to be able to see the majority of what I have, otherwise, it may not be used. So, let me take you on a journey through my crafty space. I am going to start off with a view pictures of the basic setup of the room and then some close-ups.

This gives you and idea of my basic setup. The majority of my supplies are on along the back wall of our bedroom, and then I have a bookcase that houses the majority of my stamps, some magazines and books and my sewing machine.

This is what I use to store my SU glitter and embossing powder. It is a K-cup holder. These small containers fit perfectly and when I want to use them I don't have to root through a drawer to find them. It's sits on the top of the four cubes which house my paper products and a few of the extra large dies for the Big Shot.

Since I am a Stampin' UP! demonstrator, the majority of cardstock I use is mostly SU. There are four color families, and that is how I arrange my paper. Brights, subtles, regals and neutrals. I store each color in a legal size manilla folder. The reason I do this is because I keep my scraps in with the unused sheets. I use my scraps way more doing it this way, then storing them separately!

The drawer below has hanging file folders that hold all of my Designer Series Paper and Specialty Paper. I also have retired in colors in a folder in this drawer as well. (which is nice, because two In Colors from 2010-2012 are coming back this year as part of the color refresh).

The cube above this holds the current In-color cardstock and the black, white card stock. It also holds a few dies.

I store the majority of my punches on these Bygel rails from Ikea. I love that I can just grab one, use it, and put it back. There is a small hook screwed in to the side of the top cube and this is where I hang my heat tool when not in use.

These sit on the left corner of my workspace. The metal buckets holds my snail adhesives, sharpie markers and a few pencils. I keep all my scissors, ruler, stamp-a-ma-jig, corner rounders and other small tools accesible in these cute little brown tote.

I got these little cube shelves and cube bins at Target. This is what is right in front of my workspace. I store my markers in the clear dvd cases by color family, and one for the current in colors. I also have pearls and rhinestones stored in a clear dvd case. My adhesives and stamp cleaner are stored in the lower left cube. I store the smaller punches and punches that won't fit on the ikea rails here, along with my Versamark ink pads and Staz on ink pads.

This is my Big Shot and paper trimming station. Most of the time, I move the paper trimmer to the side and position the Big Shot so it is parallel to the edge of the table.

The card I have on display is one my daughter, who is seven, made for me. When I was cleaning out my supplies, I gave her a bunch of things I knew I would not use. I never showed her how to use flowers or brads, so I think it's pretty cool that she came up with that all on her own.

These are the shelves immediately above the big shot. Most of the stuff on these shelves are supplies I use to make domino necklaces and keychains.

This is my Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set. I use this set quite often and I was tired of keeping it that horrible plastic container. I had some empty clear decorative paint cans and the set fit perfectly in it.

This cube storage came from Target. Each bin is labeled with a little tag as to what the contents are.

I didn't add close ups of my ink storage, but I use the Stampin' UP! color caddy. I also have a kitchen cart from ikea in the corner that holds my printer, silhouette, mail scale, and a few other odds and ends.

Someday I hope to have one of those lovely craft rooms I see all over the internet. For now, my little crafty zone is just fine with me.

Friday, January 25, 2013

I am taking Ali Edwards "One Little Word" class over at Big Picture Classes. It is a year long class, and I am excited to be a part of it this year.

My word for 2013 is CHANGE.

I chose this word because I want to focus on all the changes that have happened, or will happen. I want to learn to be more accepting of changes that occur, whether they be a personal change, or an environmental change. Changes that I have no control over. I am sure as the year progresses Ali will challenge us with many creative prompts to focus on our chosen word.

For the month of January, the assignment was to come up with a list of twelve intentions/phrases that went with our chosen word. Here are my pages created for the intentions/phrases:

I made my cards using Crumb Cake cardstock from Stampin' UP! The cards measure 2.5" x 3.5" and slide neatly in to some baseball card page protectors I purchased from Amazon ages ago. I used Photoshop Elements to create the phrases for each card. I made my own "rub-ons" by printing the mirror image of my phrases on to the smooth side of an inkjet transparency. I flipped over the transparency and used a popsicle stick. I outlined each card with a White Signo Gel Glo Pen. I used a 1 1/4" SU circle punch to punch out the months. I trimmed the tops of my circles and adhered them to my cards using some washy tape and a little snail adhesive.

I really like the Kraft look with just a touch of color here and there. I am thinking I may end up doing this with my journaling cards for project life also.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Here is the digital version of my Week Two of project life. I think I am going to print and cut out each of the journaling cards and slide them in to the Design A Project Life page protectors. I ordered a bunch of them last year and I want to use them. I think it goes well with my page from Week One and will flow nicely. Using instagram photos, or instagram size photos is the best option for me. I really like the square look, and I like being able to make each card a "mini" layout. I am thinking of going back in and changing the color of the instagram frames to black to give the photo edges more contrast. This is why I like digital, if I stare at my page long enough, I will find something I want to change, LOL.

Monday, January 14, 2013

If you have ever made a visit to this blog, you know I have been attempting to get my photos off my phone/camera/computer and in to some form of memory album. I am proud to say, that this will be the year that I not only complete, but keep up with, a Project Life album. If you are not familiar with Project Life, I encourage you to visit Becky Higgins' Project Life website.

I have various PL products that I have been acquiring over the past two years. I have a pack of plain Journaling cards, the Cobalt edition (both digital and traditional), the digital Clementine edition, and many, many different size photo sleeve inserts.

I recently took the Digital Project Life class at JessicaSprague.com. Although I have been using Photoshop Elements for years and have done plenty of digital scrapbooking, I always learn something new when I take one of her classes. In addition, she always has cool little extra surprises, :)

I plan on doing a mix of both Traditional card inserts and digital. I may design an entire spread, and have it printed out 12x12 and just slide it in to a 12x12 page, or I may decide to print and cute each digital card I create and slip them in the Project Life page protectors. It depends on what I am working with, how many pictures I have for one week, and of course, how much time I have on my hands.

Doing a hybrid album will also give me the option of adding more physical elements, or even some stamping! Regardless of how each page turns out, all my pages will start digitally and then I will go from there, :) Using the digital templates will help me plan out my pages, whether I go all digital, or hybrid.

Most of the cards used in my cover page for this year's album was a free printable PDF I found at this site. Here is a peak at my cover page:

I don't take a picture a day, so the amount of pictures I take in a given week may vary. Week One doesn't have many pics, but with the addition of some journaling and a snapshot of an entry from my Memento app on my iphone I filled it in pretty nicely. This is the digital version, but I ended up taking the digital cards I created, placed two to three on an 8.5" x 11" document in photoshop and printed them out. I then used a ruler and an exacto knife to get nice straight edges, and used my 1/2" corner chomper to get the rounded corners. Here is a preview of my first week:

I am may add a banner on the upper left journaling card that has the dates, since I did the 1st through the 5th for the first week. I am in the process of working on the second week, hope to be able to share that page soon.

Welcome

I love the outdoors. I enjoy camping, hiking and fishing. I love taking pictures and memory keeping. I grew up in PA and due to my service in the Marines, and eventually marrying one, I have been to many places. Sunshine and Pine combines my love of the outdoors, the place I grew up in and the many places I have lived since leaving home. Hawaii and San Diego were two of those "sunshiny" places. Enjoy your visit to my blog!